Study Pinpoints Risk Of Sleep Apnea
Men Have Higher Risk Of Condition Than Women
NEW YORK -- Do you know someone who snores, gasps and even makes choking sounds during sleep? That person may have sleep apnea. But now, a new study tells us who is most at risk of developing this potentially life-threatening condition.
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"It was so loud that even the neighbors in my neighborhood were complaining about my snoring," Kopcash said.
Kopcash is part of a medical sleep study because his snoring was due to sleep apnea -- a condition where people stop breathing at night.
Sleep apnea can lead to health problems such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.
Now, a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association looks at the likelihood of adults developing sleep apnea.
"The overall rate of developing sleep apnea over five years was about 7 percent," said Dr. Susan Redline, a sleep apnea researcher. "That is, seven in 100 people who didn't have sleep apnea on an initial exam were likely to have a moderate or more level of sleep apnea five years later."
Redline and fellow researchers at Case Western Reserve University and Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland, along with colleagues at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, studied about 300 adults over the course of a decade.
Those most likely to develop sleep apnea were men, who were five times as likely as women to develop the sleep disorder. However, as women reached age 50 and over, their risk caught up to that of men. Also, people who became overweight and who had high cholesterol were more likely to have sleep apnea.
Certainly, loud snoring is a hallmark sign of sleep apnea, but that's not the only sign.
"Many people are unaware of their own snoring, so the absence of snoring doesn't mean you don't have sleep apnea," Redline said.
Kopcash and his wife were certainly aware of his snoring. Since he's been treated for sleep apnea, his overall health has greatly improved, and he says he's noticed a difference after the first night with the C-PAP.
"I said, 'So that is what it's like to sleep, because all my life, I never remember getting sleep like that,'" Kopcash said.
If you have persistent difficulty sleeping or daytime sleepiness, talk to your doctor about possible causes.
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